We aim to support your Chinese studies with free resources. In this series, we explore idioms and proverbs, full of meaning. Today’s feature is 「深厲淺揭」, explained below.
We’re presenting the idiom 「深厲淺揭」 this time—its explanation and use are detailed below.
Li: to wade in water with clothes on; jie: to lift up clothes. It means that when wading in shallow water, you can lift up your clothes; but when wading in deep water, it is useless to lift up your clothes, so you have to go into the water with your clothes on. It is a metaphor that one should adapt himself to local conditions when dealing with problems.
The Mandarin pronunciation of this idiom is :
shēn lì qiǎn jiē
while its Cantonese pinyin is :
sam1 lai6 chin2 kit3
The treasure trove of Chinese idioms is extensive, with different expressions suited for various situations. We hope these free resources will aid you in your journey to mastering Chinese.
